Occupational health and safety news and guidance

Workplace injury and work-related illness led to the loss of 27 million working days in 2011/2012, new figures have revealed. According to statistics published by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) towards the end of 2012, 173 people were killed while at work, and 111,000 other injuries suffered by employees were reported.

The human cost of accidents in the workplace is obvious, with incidents often leaving people unable to work in the profession in which they are trained, with potentially life altering injuries and struggling to get by financially – the research pointed out that the largest single cost of workplace illness and injury is not financial, but grief, pain and suffering to individuals.

However, the research also highlighted the economic cost of injuries and illness, showing that workplace injuries and ill health cost society around £13.4 billion in 2010/2011.

Unsurprisingly the industries which were found to be most risky to workers were construction, agriculture, waste and recycling.

The comprehensive research conducted by the HSE also detailed injuries which were severe enough to warrant absences of more than three days by an employee – these injuries totalled 212,000. Major injuries in general totalled 24,000 and it was revealed that injuries are more likely to be suffered by male workers who have less experience.

Injury figures may already appear high but it should also be taken into account that non-fatal injuries are notoriously under reported in many different workplaces – and estimates suggest that only just over 50 per cent of such injuries are actually noted down.